Suspension of the Rules in the House: Principal Features

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Order Code 98-314
Updated September 9, 2008.
Suspension of the Rules in the House:
Principal Features
Elizabeth Rybicki
AnalystSpecialist on the Congress and the Legislative Process
Government and Finance DivisionNovember 30, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
98-314
CRS Report for Congress
Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
c11173008
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Suspension of the Rules in the House: Principal Features
Summary
“Suspension of the rules” is a procedure that the House of Representatives often useson the floorto act expeditiously on relatively noncontroversial legislation.1 Thisprocedure is governed primarily by clause 1 of HouseRule XV. When a bill or someother matter is considered “under suspension,” floor debate is limited
limited to 40 minutes, all flooramendments are prohibited, and a two-thirds vote is required for final passage. For more
information on the legislative process, see [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/
guidehome.shtml]
final passage.
Congressional Research Service
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Suspension of the Rules in the House: Principal Features
S
uspension of the rules is a procedure that the House of Representatives often uses on the
floor to act expeditiously on legislation. This procedure is governed primarily by clause 1
of House Rule XV. When a bill or some other matter is considered “under suspension,”
floor debate is limited, all floor amendments are prohibited, and a two-thirds vote is required for
final passage.
Typically, a Member whom the Speaker has recognized will say, for example, “Mr.Speaker, Imove to suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1234.” By making thatmotion, the Membertriggers the use of the suspension procedure under Rule XV.However, this same procedure can beused for other legislative purposes. For example,a Member can move to suspend the rules andagree to a conference report, or concur ina Senate amendment to a House bill, or take some otheraction.
There are nine principal features of the suspension procedure.
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First, the
1. The Speaker controls the use of this procedure. No Member hasa right to make asuspension motion. The Speaker decides who torecognize for suspension motions.
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Second, suspension
2. Suspension motions are in order only on Mondays,Tuesdays, and Wednesdays,and during the final days of the annualcongressional session. The Housesometimes agrees to considersuspension motions on other days, by agreeing to eithera unanimousconsent request or a special rule for that purpose.
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Third, there
3. There are only 40 minutes of debate on a suspension motionand the bill (orother action) to which it relates. Time control isusually divided between thechairman and the ranking minority member
This report was written by Stanley Bach, a former Senior Specialist in the Legislative Process
at CRS. The listed author updated the report and can respond to inquiries on the subject.
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of the committee or subcommittee withjurisdiction over the bill.However, if the ranking minority member supports the bill, another
another Member who opposes it can claim control of half the time for debate.
!
Fourth, when4. When a bill is considered under suspension, no flooramendments are in order.The Member making the motion, however,can include amendments as part of his orher motion. In that case, theMember moves to suspend the rules and pass the bill asamended.
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Fifth, after
5. After the 40 minutes of debate, there is a single vote onsuspending the rules andpassing the bill. The House does not votefirst on whether to suspend the rules andthen on whether to pass the bill.Both questions are decided by one vote.
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Sixth, a
6. A two-thirds vote of the House is required to pass a bill undersuspension of therules. This is a two-thirds vote of the Memberspresent and voting, a quorum beingpresent. If a suspension motion failsto receive the required two-thirds vote, theHouse can consider the billin question again, often under procedures that requireonly a simplemajority vote to pass it.
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Seventh, the
7. The Speaker can postpone rollcall votes on suspensionmotions until later on thesame day or within the next two legislativedays,21 and cluster them to occur one after the other. When there is a
1
A “legislative day” begins the first time the House meets after an adjournment and ends when the House adjourns
again.
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Suspension of the Rules in the House: Principal Features
after the other. When there is a series of such rollcall votes, Members have 15minutes to vote on thefirst motion but they usually have only five minutes to vote oneach ofthe other motions.
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Eighth, there
8. There is no requirement that a bill must be reported fromcommittee before theHouse can consider it under suspension. Oneadvantage of the suspensionprocedure is that the committee to which abill was referred does not have to meetformally to vote on reporting it orto prepare a written report on the bill.
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Ninth, the
9. The suspension procedure automatically waives all points oforder against thebill (or other action) and against its consideration.The procedure suspends allrules of the House except those that governthe suspension procedure itself.There is no suspension calendar. Instead, during the last floor session of each week,a member ofthe majority party leadership usually makes a public announcement on thefloor about the billsthat have been scheduled tentatively for consideration undersuspension during the following week.
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A “legislative day” begins the first time the House meets after an adjournment and ends when
the House adjourns again.
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week.
For additional information, see the Parliamentarian’s notes following clause 1 ofRule XV in theHouse Rules and Manual; pp.pages 871-879 of House Practice; and vol. 6,
chap. 21, sec. 9-15 of Deschler’s Precedents.volume 6, chapter 21, sections
9-15 of Deschler’s Precedents.
Author Contact Information
Elizabeth Rybicki
Specialist on the Congress and the Legislative
Process
erybicki@crs.loc.gov, 7-0644
Acknowledgments
This report was written by Stanley Bach, a former Senior Specialist in the Legislative Process at CRS. The
listed author updated the report and can respond to inquiries on the subject.
Congressional Research Service
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